Do's and Don'ts of posting on Foodlovers

Hi Foodlovers, Could someone who is knowledgeable on the do's and don't s of posting on this site outline the rules for us. I feel as though I should know by now but I realise I actually have no idea. I think there was mention a few years ago of not mentioning brand names of products, and I think I saw people saying not to mention some words in relation to cuisine types typing instead *ndian for example - ? not sure, also can we re type some recipes if we say who the original was? Can we re print any recipe, can we re type with a few changes? Are there any other no no's. Can we take a photo of a book page and post the recipe that way (I think I have done this already), I was just reading the post about the Rhubarb Chutney and thought - I would love to know, I notice no-one posted a recipe on that.

A very good subject, Danube, and one that could perhaps be made a 'sticky' so that it's always at the top of the FoodTalk Forum. Helen, as the owner of the site, should, I think, be the one to give us a set of written guidelines and rules, if she has the time.

In the first instance, we can mention brand names if you are saying things like "I really like Maggi chicken stock" etc...
What we can't do is use a brand name in context of a generic product otherwise I get lawyers letters. An example of this is "wrap the dough in g***wrap."
In that context you need to say plastic clingfilm as the former is a brand name not a name of product and companies get quite upset about this.
Ch***rios is another example as is using resealable plastic bags and not s***lock bags.

While recipes are widely shared on the net, food writers get upset about their work being freely shared.
Recipes from books can't be photographed and shared although I do know that they are.
If you make a recipe and adapt it then you can share it and attribute the original author.

In relation to the word *ndian. That was purely because we had a lot of spammers promoting their wares from *ndia so it was added to a list of banned words to try and stop them spamming the site.

I will think it all through and post and yes make it sticky.
A great idea, thanks.

I'll just say re mentioning brand names of products, it's absolutely fine to mention brand names, e.g. Chelsea, Pam's, Masterfoods, etc. There's an exception and that is when we refer to products that are fast becoming the generic name for something, such as hoover ending up being the go-to word for vacuuming, and thermos ending up being the go-to word for vacuum flasks, when both Hoover and Thermos are actually BRAND NAMES of one particular vacuum cleaner and one particular vacuum flask. There are a couple of well-known brand names that are in constant danger of becoming generic names and these are cheerios for cocktail sausages and gladwrap for clingfilm. Both Cheerios and Gladwrap are BRAND NAMES of one particular cocktail sausage and one particular clingfilm and the companies that manufacture and own the brands Cheerios and Gladwrap work hard to prevent their trademarked brand names from becoming generic names. This is why we cannot refer to Cheerios if we're just meaning cocktail sausages and we cannot refer to Gladwrap if we're just meaning clingfilm. HOWEVER, if we specifically want to say we had Cheerios brand at our children's birthday party or used Gladwrap brand for the leftovers, we have to say Cheerios cocktail sausages and Gladwrap clingfilm.

Oh, I see I was typing this at the same time as Helen was typing her reply....

I knew I'd seen something along these lines over the years (amazing how time fly's) and yes, now you mention it I think I did know about the brand names thing. The *ndian one never really cottoned on (must have missed that memo) and I think it will always be a bit risky with recipe sharing but good to know you can "If you make a recipe and adapt it then you can share it and attribute the original author." this is great because recipes are for sharing and are rarely made exactly the same between cooks and we are all happy to give credit where credits due

Griz, technically I don't think Vanillalovers posts are spam unless a link to a product not available in NZ is also mentioned or if they are completely off topic. I have removed a couple of the posters posts for this reason. But to delete a post just because the comments are inane is a bit unfair. What does everyone else think?

I assume that posters like Vanillalover are either very young, or are using English as a foreign language. As long as they don't post links or advertise I don't think it is necessary to block them. The inanity is no worse than half of the posts on the Trademe messageboards!

Well, I guess I'm a sceptic, I think it's about working out how our system works in order to commence posting spam, which this person has done. If you post spam I think all your posts should be deleted. I also don't believe it's a real person, I think it's a computer programme, which is why the English isn't good.

Oh, I hadn't thought of that. It makes sense. I guess I had assumed that because this forum is so small with such low activity it would not be of interest to spammers, but I suppose we get caught in the automated scattershot..

Well, we certainly do get spam, just about every day, but I've been religiously deleting it. If VanillaLover is a spammer, they're doing a very poor job of it. At this time I can't block spammers, I can only delete their annoying posts, so if this poster is not posting any obnoxious web-sites, I'm inclined just to let things lie and hope they either go away or take some English lessons.

Getting back J1's comment about companies working hard to stop their trademarked names being used generically, there was a time in the not too distant past, when companies worked hard in the opposite direction ie. to try and get people to use their trademarked names generically. When people referred to nuggeting their boots, luxing the floor (Electrolux) or filling a thermos flask, those companies felt very satisfied that they had succeeded and since their brand names were synonymous with the product, the public was effectively doing their advertising for them.

Now companies would rather protect their precious trademarks and spend millions of dollars on advertising instead.

I agree, Barbara-Anne. I mentioned this fact way, way back when Helen was first threatened with legal action form the company who shall remain nameless but is the owner of plastic wrap. However, I have since learned that one supermarket's range of own brand products are nearly always better than the 'big name' brands and a lot cheaper. I love having my friend Pam filling my shelves for me!

There was a time, a while back now, when writing my shopping list I would put the brand name next to an item on my shopping list to remind me that it was my favourite out of the range available, till it got to the stage where the name appeared so many times on my shopping list, I stopped doing it and only use a brand name now when I find a rare brand that I prefer for a particular item.